Improvement in stop-nozzles for fire-extinguishing apparatus



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 M. CLEMEN'S. -NOZZLES FOR.` FIR-E EXTINGU'ISHING APPARATUS.

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Patented March 14, 1876.

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M. CLEMENS.,

STOP-NOZZLES FOR FIRE EXTINGUIS-I'IING APPARATUS. No-.`l74,781. Patented March 14, 1876.

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UNITED STATES PATENT A(DEEE:E

, MELVILLE CLEMENS, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

i IMPROVEMENT4 |N STOP-NOZZLES FOR FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 174,78 l., dated March 14, 1876; application tiledv February 15, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MELVILLE CLEMENs, of the city and county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented Improvements in Stop-Nozzles for Fire-Extinguishing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification The characteristic features of my invention are the employment of a pointed cone-valve, placed coneentrically in a nozzle ajutage and seating at its discharge-oritiee, and adapted to be operated ,in connection therewith in such a manner that a round ard solid stream of water of any required volume, from lnearly the full diameter of the discharge-orifice to a small jet, may be formed and projected from the nozzle without cutting oli' or diminishing the projectory pressure and force of the water at its point of discharge from the nozzle, thus making the nozzle equally etcient in vprojection of both large and small streams, thereby adapting it for extinguishing large or small lires, as' occasion requires, and avoiding lthe unnecessary damage by water from using in- -efficiently more water than is required, as is commonly done with the common stop-nozzles in use, which eut oft' and stop the water back ofthe discharge-orifice, thereby reducing' the projectory pressure of the water at'its point of discharge in reducing` the stream by them, which renders them inefficient ill projection only when fully open. l

My invention includes, also, the adaptation of spraying attachments to the nozzle; and it further includes various forms of construction of the nozzle, employing different modes of operating' it, in allof which the same characteristic features of forming, regulating, and stopping the stream `are employed, as in the original stop-nozzle.

The drawings showingimy invention are ou two sheets, No'. l and No. 2, and comprise twenty-one figures, in all of which like letters of reference indicate like parts of the various devices shown.

In the original form ofthe stop-nozzle shown -being extended. by an enlarged 'valve-guard tube, h, forming an annular shoulder, i, at

the discharge-orifice, to which air is admitted freely by air-inlet holes jj, &c., in the tube h.

traverses freely a bar, p, which passes through f the valve-stem l and engages by screw-thread teeth on its ends internal screw-threads of a sleeve, g, which is fitted to turn freely on the barrel .e between-projecting flanges of the barrel and the ajutage.

The tube m and wings n n may be cast inv one piece with the barrel e, but it is preferable to cast and finish them separately, and to v secure the Wings in the barrel, as shown, by a driving-lit and` steady-pins, r r, soldering the joints, if necessary', to make them waf ter-tight.

The wings n n are tapered to knife-edges to present least obstruction to the flow of the water over them. tertight by a pointed plug,vs.

I make the screw-threads of the sleeveq of such a pitch that about three or four revolutions of the sleeve will fully open or close, the nozzle, the valve requiring to close slowly to avoid too sudden stopping of the eflluxing water-'cclumm and the consequent injurious Water-hammering.

To enable holding the sleeve q securelyiii` the grasp ofthe hand in turning it, its exterior surface is milled, grooved, iuted or roughened. Spiral grooves, crossing each other and cutting the surface into checks,as. -indicated by the parallel and intersecting curved lines in Fig. l, are most advantageous for the purpose of securely holding the sleeve.

In' the drawings, the sides of a portion of the ajutage converge conically to itsporiice g at angle of about thirty degrees, and the conical convergence ofthe valve c from just above its seating-line to its apex is the same; but

The tube m is closed wa-v jection of the stream; but it may be rounded off or extended straight a short distance to givev it a more durable edge.

The discharge-orifice may be, made a circular aperture, either straight or convergen4 formed in a thin plate or interval projection in the nozzle, but lwith less favorable results.

I The principal ofce of the tube h is to in-L close and protect the cone-valve k from iiivjury, and the holes jj in it serve to admit air freelyj to the stream at the discharge-orifice ig, to prevent theistream from exhausting the nair from the tube, and .creating a-vaciiuin at the shonldert', which would ,tend togbreaky up the streanngnd to` ca useit toillithe tube ,in flowing through it. f With a free supply of airI at' the i shoulderct' y the streain,iwhich, at the orifice g, isinfsec tiona ring, will form-into a round andsolid stream of smallerdiameter upon and f atithei point of the conevalve k, and it will be 'pro-r. jectedinthatlorm throughand out-'of the tube h, whether thea'allveisopened `to discharge a large or. small stream; and' tofwhatfever degree the nozzle is closed, the project-4 ory, pressure and force -of the water is undi-v miiiished at the discharge-orifice g,iso `that' the nozzle is adapted to form and project efficiently, and witheqiialy force, vsolid` and round.`

streams of all sizes within its range `of opening. -lt issometiines desirable, when the nozzle siredkits closing movement. plugging therear end of theslot, `the opening movement is reduced, and the i nozzle inadei` of less capacity of opening.

In Fig. 5 is shown -by sectional `vieri;r -the ujutage f, detached from the nozzle, and'hav ing a perforated disk, t, (shown in plan View by Fig. 6,) attached to the outerend -of the guard-tube h, for throwing double sprays from the i iozzle. The disk fits into the tube, with its circular [lange u resting on the end` of the tube, to which it is secured bya yremovablel ring-cap, v, which screws on the tube, and has un internal flange, which isiof thesamo diam-` eteras the tube, and which bears 4upon the The sprayingholes w i flange `u of the disk. fw, tc., inthe disk all have their axis-lines convergingatthe point min the axis of the tube h, making the body of the spray, which is thrown from thein,-to spread coiiically at an.`

angle of about thirty degrees, and the outer and inner surfaces of the spraying p ortion 012 the disk are curved in circles centering/at the point fr, which conditions are favorable orecient formation and `projection of the spray. rlhe total cross-section area of-the spray-holes wgw should be about three-fourths of the area of the discharge-orifice g, when fully opened, in vorder that the tube h may be maintained filled with Water under efficient projectory pressure.

`'lheairrinlet iholesiiyy, Svc., in `the tube h, at the shoulder d', instead of being made large ,and ,at right angles to the tube,.as before shown, are made small andthickly'set and -fr nmclined forward, so that when the sprayingpiece is attached a fine ,rear spray will spout frointhein to protect the pipeman from heat iand smoke in close engagement with the tire.

When the sprays are not required, the disk t is removed, and the cap e screwed down to its seat, which leavesthe outlet of the tube hsmooth.andiinobstructedg andthe holes yV y lserveiasair-inletholes, ythe same as the holes jj.

Fi g. `7 shows 1. the substitution for `the perforated diskft of anat-.interchangeable disk, z, having a single central conical port-hole ,formed in .-itlofaboutthesame area as the total area; of Y the .spray-holes fw w. Its use is `tothrow a solidstream out of its port-hole l torextinguishiiig lires, and Vto throw the tine rear sprayifrom the holes yy. The disk z is l -madereversible,:like-the disk z, andwhen'reversedfro'm the position shown, the small jets issuing from vits Vconvergent :holes will con- ,g verge Vand form one stream,.similar to thatg` l l l .l i

discharged from a single orifice, though not; l

as feciently projected. i 'lThe.sprayingfpieces-t and-z may be l*of g/therl form, and` they maybe adapted to screw into orfon the :tu-be h.

Figs. 9 Vand 10 show, by a plan andan end view, fthe .stopnozzle, provided `with Y permanently-attached -spraying devices, operating similarlyto thosebefore described, andconsistingl oftwosegmental spherical shell-pieces, y b1 and c1, pivoted together at their ends by `screw-pins dl d1, onasphercal enlargement, el, f -ot the tubeh, which .they tit-accurately, but sufficiently free-to be swung back and forth uponiit,ifrom their position when not in use (shownin Figs. 9 and 10) tcr their respective-4 lyrequired positions over therendiof the tube h,whcninuse.

Fig. y11 shows, by a sectional viewv of the ajutagef,.detached from the nozzle, the 4perforated shell c1 in position `for'throwing the double spraysbefore described,`land Fig. 12

is a plan view of-.the iiiteriorof the shell.

Fig. 13 shows, by a plan view of the ajutage f, theshellb, havingra single central porthole in it, the shell being swung'into position Mforthrowing a solid stream `from it and the fine rear spray from the holes y y, and Fig. 14 showsan inner plan `view ofthe shell b.

The ajutagef, detached from the stopnoz.

zle and equipped with the described spraying attachments, as shown and described, form complete and original, combined, plane, and spraying nozzles, and they may be so used. In such use of them the ajutage-passage leading to the orifice g may be formed like that of any of the common plane nozzles instead of the form shown of it.

Fig. 15 shows, by a sectional view, the stopnozzle combined with a discharge-pipe. In this combination the dischargepipe substitutes the barrel e ofthe nozzle and the dischargepipe to which the originally-described nozzle is designed to be attached.. 1t is made in two sections, f and g1, which are screwed fast together, as shown. The nozzle-ajutage f is screwed fast to the outer end of the section g of the pipe, and the valve-stem l is lengthened, but carried in the guide-tube m and wings n n, and operated bythe bar p and sleeve q, as before described. The wings are fixed in the end of pipe g1, and the sleeve q turns on thc pipe between anges-of the two pipe-sections, in the same manner as before described, of their connection to the barrel e.

In this combination, the operating sleeveq is placed farther back on the discharge-pipe, more convenient to be operated by the pipeman, and also the wings n n, being more removed from the ajutagef, disturb the water less in forming and projecting the stream than in the before-described nozzle, made to be at tached to the end of a discharge-pipe.

Fig. 1G shows by a sectional view, and Fig. 17 by an end view, a modification of the stopnozzledescribed, having the same features of forming, regulating, and stopping the stream, but diifering therefrom in its having the conevalve k xed and the adjutagefmade movable upon it to vopenvand'close the nozzle. In this combination L is the nozzle-barrel attached, by its screw-head, to a discharge-pipe, (or it may be length ened to form the dischargepipe,) and supporting in its outer end concentrically with its axis the cone-valve 7c by four wings,z`1z'1t" f1,on its stein l, which are iixedly attached in the barrel. v0n the barrel h1 is fitted closely, but to turn freely, an operating sleeve, j', carrying at its outer projecting end concentrically with the barrel h1 the ajutage j" and valve-guard tube lz., before described. The sleeve j is made to move longitudinally upon the barrel h1 by screwthreads k1 kl, formed onits inner surface, which en gage like screw-threads Z1 lll formed on an enlarged portion of the barre/l, so that turning the sleeve to the right or left opens or closes the nozzle by moving the ajntage out and in from the cone-valve. The annular recesses m m between the sleeve and barrel on either side of the threads k1 k1 are to permit unobstructed movement of the sleeve onthe barrel, and to protect from external exposure the threads on the barrel. a is a screw-'pin fixed in the barrel h1 at the edge of itsy threaded, portion in the position shown to form a stop to the outward movement of the sleeve and ajutage.

This pin is inserted in the barrel, and may be removed from it through the hole o in the sleeve. Packing may be wound in an annular recess shown in the lower end of the barrel, if the joint between the sleeve and barrel is not otherwise sufficiently water-tight.

Figs. 18 and 19 show, by a plan view and a sectional view, a combined discharge-pipe and stop-nozzle, having the same features or principles of forming, regulating, and stopping the stream, as before described, of the original stop-nozzle,'but differing therefrom in its form of construction, and in its mode of carrying and operating the cone-valve, and in its being more especially designed for use on hose for stand-pipes, and-in buildings. In this combination the nozzle-ajutage j' is screwed fast to the outer end of a discharge-pipe, g', and the valve Ir is supported concentrically with the axis ofthe pipe and the ajutage by knifeedged wings r( r', attached near the ends of its long valve-stem s', which Wings t accurately, but free to slide back and forth, iii straight portions formed in the pipe, as shown. The valve-stem s is enlarged and slotted with `rack-teeth formed in one side, t', of the slot, as shown. A pinion, u', working .in the slot and engaging the rack t', is formed on a spindle, e', which passes transversely through the middle of the pipe g at its swelled portion and is made water-tight therein by tapering joints and' the set-nut w. A lever, m, fixed to the spindle e', affords external means of operating the pinion a and valve t'. In the position `shown by the full lines the nozzle is nearly opened, and when the lever x is swung to the position shown by the dotted linesy the nozzle is closed.

Fig. 20 shows, by plan view, the same combination as in Figs. 18 and 19, excepting in the substitution for the lever x of 'ya worm and gear for operating with greater leverage the valve 7c. The worm z is mounted on the pipe q by its spindle being supported in posts a2 u2, and its screw-threads engage a wormgear, b2, fixed on the spindle e', the whole being operated by a small hand-wheel, c2.

Fig. 21'shows, by a sectional View, a combined pipe and stop-nozzle, having the.same features of forming, regulating, and stopping the stream as the stop nozzles before described, but differing from `them in its form of construction, and in its mode of carrying and operating the cone-valve, and in its being more`especially adapted for use on gardenhose and small hose in buildings. In this combination the discharge-pipe d2, the barrel c2, the ajutagef, and valve-guard tube f? are formed as shown, and may be cast in one piece. In the guard-tube f2 the before-described air-inlet4 holes are not required, the

tube f2 being so short and the space being so great in the tube around the small stream which is projected through it that air will be supplied freely to 'the shoulderi from the tnbes outer end. The pipe d2 is connected to the barrel e2 by an elbow toenahhe passing the rying and operating it.

valve-stem g2 straight through and out of the barrel, for convenience and simplicity of car- The valve-stem g ofthe cone-valve k works conceutrically to the barrele2 and ajutage f in a projecting tube, h2, of the barrel-head?, there being matching screw-threads formed ou the stem and in the tube, and an external stalling-box, k2., to make the stem-joint water-tight. A small handwheel., Z2, fixed on the out-er end-of the valvestem, serves to turn the stem and open and close the nozzle. A stop in opening the valve to its required limits is made by forming the threads on the valve-stem, as shown, and cuttingaway the threads in the tube, as shown. v I am aware-that various devices are Icommonly in use for the discharge of fluids, such as water, steam, gas, and air valves, and pumping and condensing injectors, in which 'valves both pointed cones and frusta of cones open and close them and seat at or -near their s dschargeoriices, but none of them have been l adapted or are suitable for the purposes re quiredof a regulating stop-nozzle for vfire-eu.- lingnishing apparatus.

I `claim as my invention.-

' 1. In combination with a hose-nozzle, a cone-` valve placed .within the nozzle `eoncentrically with and seating at its discharge-orifice, and i arranged to "form, regulate, and stop` the stream thrown by the nozzle, substantially as and for the purposes set forth. r

' 2. The stop-nozzle, consisting of the barrel e, ajutage f, valve-guard tube h, and the conevalve k, carried by its valvestem l in the tube m of thev fixed wings n n, and operated by the reciprocating bar p, whichengages the screwthreaded operating sleeve q, all substantially as and for the purposesset forth.

The central tube mtcarrying the valvestem l, supported and fixed by thewings n n in the barrel e, and having the slot o through the barrel and wings. for operating the valve k externally, substantially as described.

4. The valve-guard tube h, in .combination with a stopnozzle, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. The air-nlet holes j j or yy, in lcombination with the guard-tube h and ajutage f, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

6.` In combination with a hose-nozzle, the removable and reversible disk t, having divergent holes w w, to form a spray or solid stream, substantially `as and` `for. the purposes set forth.

MELVILLE CLEMEN s.

Y Witnesses:

GEO. F. GLEMoNs, W. B. ROGERS. 

